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31 December 2012

So this New Year's Eve is going to be pretty boring for me. In the past we've had friends come over, but this year they made other plans. My husband also volunteered to work the third shift at his job (with my permission!, but he'll earn a third shift bonus) so it's just me and the little man. Even so I still needed to bling my nails out even if it's just for myself!

On my ring finger and thumb, I used four coats of Barry M Limited Edition Effects Silver Glitter. Then I added one coat of O.P.I. Crown Me Already. The other fingers have a base of Nfu-Oh 66 followed by one coat of O.P.I. Crown Me Already.

Nfu-Oh 66 is such a beautiful holo. These pictures were all taken inside under artificial light, and it still shines!

These last two pictures were taken with my new macro lens for my iPhone. I still need to practice a bit, but the lens is really nice! You can see a close-up of the glitters I used for this mani.

I hope you all have a wonderful start to 2013! I know 2012 brought a lot of changes for my family (mostly good!), and I can't wait to see what 2013 brings.

Today I have the top manis that I did in 2012. For this I went beyond simple swatching or layering of polishes and went into the nail art category. I managed to narrow today down to my 10 favorites so enjoy!

Water Marble: This was the very first water marble that I ever did. I did it as part of the 31 Day Challenge. I was so proud of myself for attempting a nail art technique that challenged me, but also for doing a pretty good job on it too!

Popcorn: I did mani for a Monday Mani over at PAA. It was the first in a serious of food manis that I did. I really like this one because I freehanded stripes and added dimension to the popcorn that really made it *pop*!

Watermelons: This was a bit outside my comfort zone as I really don't like pink. I'm so glad I did it though because it was the perfect summer mani! And the green glitter? Awesome.

Purple Roses: This is another mani I did as part of the 31 Day Challenge. I kept seeing so many different rose mani designs all over Pinterest that I finally decided to bite the bullet and try one. It turned out great! I really need to do this one again with some other colors.

Tribal print: Once again a mani from the 31 Day Challenge. I freehanded this whole design using inspiration from several different sources, and I love how it turned out.

Galaxies: And yet another 31 Day Challenge mani! This time I got to try galaxies, and they turned out great.

Green flower vines: This year I did a few different flower manis, and this was one of my favorites.

Monday Mani Flowers: I did this flower design as part of the Monday Mani challenge through PAA. I love the retro vibe that I ended up with.

Leopard and zebra print: I did these nails early in the year for a trip to the zoo. The non-traditional colors really made this mani stand out for me. I meant to do this design in other colors but never did. I will get on that this year!

29 December 2012

Several bloggers have been doing lists of their favorites polishes/manis/products. It seems the end of the year always brings these best of or countdown lists. Well, I decided to do my own! It was so fun reviewing through my blog posts and seeing the awesome manis I did over the past year.

I've decided to bring my list up into two different posts: one with just my top polishes and another with the top nail art designs I did.

For today, I have my top polishes of 2012. These aren't polishes that necessarily came out this year, just polishes that I collected this year. I tried to narrow it down to 10 but couldn't quite do it. So here they are in no particular order, my top polishes of 2012!

Candeo Colors Sprouse: A perfect blend of black, silver, and white glitter, a hint of blue, and silver microshimmer. It applies beautifully with no need to dig out or place glitter.

Zoya Isla & Dollish Polish It's A Me Mario!: This is a two-fer! Zoya knows how to do red polish, and Isla is no exception! Dollish Polish really hit the scene this year with her amazing polishes, especially her glitters. The Mario collection was super popular, and you can really see why here!

Zoya Phoebe: Phoebe is stunning neon blue matte polish. I'm a sucker for matte polishes, and this neon one makes it super fun.

Dollish Polish Expecto Patronum: I couldn't help putting another Dollish Polish on this list! I love these milky white polish bases with glitter. Expecto Patronum is jam packed with tons of teal/aqua glitter.

Candeo Colors Jellybean: And another Candeo Colors!!! This one is based on the same concept as the milky base with glitter, except it's a milky light yellow with glitter.

OPI Chop-sticking To My Story & Dollish Polish The Koopa King: Here's another two-fer and another Dollish Polish (I told you it was her year!). Part of the reason why I choose this mani is not just for the color but the combination of colors. Both polishes play of each other nicely without one dominating the other.

Nicole by OPI Khloe Had a Lam-Lam: My favorite polish of all time. Hands down. I love green, dark colors, and dusky tones. This polish has it all including a great formula. If only it wasn't that weird Nicole by OPI bottle...

ManGlaze Santorum: I bought this color on the suggestion of a friend, and I'm so glad I did. ManGlaze makes the best matte polishes around. Santorum while being a totally gross name is beautiful dark brown matte polish with tons of micro shimmer. Try this one topcoated. Seriously.

27 December 2012

Today I have a guest post for you! Belén was so nice and did this guest post for me, but some how I lost the email! Luckily, we were able to figure this out, and today I have Belén's beautiful mani to show you.

When Jessica gave me the opportunity to do a guest post I couldn’t be happier. I love doing them and I have so much fun! And I hope she is having an amazing time with her baby!

First, I am going to tell you a little bit about myself: I am Belén, the owner of Nail Polish Lane . I’m a college student obsessed with nail art. I started getting into it last February or March and I have learned a lot since them, especially during the summer, when I had time to do different manis every day and my friends let me practice with their nails. Now I am back to school and I don’t have that much time anymore, but I try to keep my blog alive and do a few manis every week.

Now to the mani! First, I want to show you a few swatches of Butter London Wallis, it is an amazing polish, and under sunlight it’s incredible. It looks gorgeous with a matte top coat as well; it’s such a perfect polish.

I also have a few pictures with some nail art, but the day I took them the sun was not collaborating with me, so you cannot really appreciate how stunning it is. I used Konad White and the stamping plate Cheeky XL C. It reminds me of tribal print, what do you think?

I hope you liked my entry, and I am so happy to be able to do this post!

25 December 2012

Merry Christmas!! We had family over yesterday to celebrate so today it's just our small family :-)
I made egg nog french toast for breakfast today!

I was inspired for this mani by this pin & tutorial. Unfortunately, my mani didn't turn out as neatly so I would probably call this ugly sweater nails rather than regular sweater nails. I followed a good portion of the design but copy it exactly.

My base is Zoya Sooki, my go to red. I used 2 coats for this mani. The rest is done with acrylic paint.

23 December 2012

I've been seeking a lot of inspiration for my manis lately rather than coming up with my own designs. Though I am giving credit where credit is due and changing things up a little bit so I don't feel so bad.

I decided to use bright colors, though I'm not sure if I really like my choices. My base coat is Pure Ice Peony. I needed 2-3 coats for what you see here. I free handed the trees using Cult Nails Feelin' Froggy. There a bit sloppy, and I should have used tape instead. Feelin' Froggy is not a one coater so that meant I had to go over the trees a few times too. I should have picked a more opaque polish to do my art with.

Next I added on yellow/gold rhinestones on the top as stars and different colored rhinestones on each nail for ornaments (from pinkie to index: light blue, bright blue, silver, and purple).

21 December 2012

Once again, I sought inspiration for today's mani, but it's perfect for today since we got dumped on with snow by winter storm Draco yesterday. We got at least a foot of snow! This time it came from a pin that I found. Instead of using red like in the picture, I decided to go with a green since that's my favorite polish color! While looking over the greens that I had, I wanted to do something a bit different than the traditional Christmas green. When I saw Zoya Bevin, I knew that it was the perfect color!

I used two coats of Zoya Bevin as the base. I free handed the snow and tree using Rimmel French White Nail Tip Liner. Just like the other tree mani I did, I didn't use tape for the tree though I should have. I really like how this turned out though! In Wisconsin, we have long winters so I might have to revisit this idea sometime again.

17 December 2012

Every year a friend of ours hosts a naughty Christmas party. Before your imagination runs wild, it does NOT involve us doing sexual things. It's just a joke. It's a way to relax during the holidays and have fun. If you want to participate, you can bring a gift and we do a grab bag. For my gift this year, I had my friend from Sassy Lacquer create a custom polish called.... are you ready for it? Here Cums Santa. She was so good natured about it too! I had her make me one too, and I have pictures for you today.

The base is white for well.... you know! Then the red is for Santa's coat, the black for his belt, and silver for his belt buckle.